life experiences & findings

My journey as a "student of life" and an artist, with room for the
playful or downright silly, in my world, locally or globally.

Sunday, November 30, 2008

This Blogging Habit

My posting is later today than it usually is. I have no great excuse for that...exceptthat in my first session on my computer early this morning...I didn't do it...andthe rest of the day flew away...until I just decided to arrest its flight. Four orfive months ago...when I started back in earnest with this Blog...I wasn't intending to be daily about it...but daily...indeed...it has become. I think it has been just a matter of doing something enough...until it becomes a daily habit. That may be the case with me and my Blog right now...but I'm keenly aware...that it...likely...would only take a visit from a relative for a few days...or some other attention taking event in my life...to push me off this daily habit of a few months. So...I'll...hopefully...keep on posting my entries...while at the same time...not making any heavy promises...and ongoingly being opento life...and where it takes me.....................Quester.

Saturday, November 29, 2008

Sending My Songs Into Cyberspace

Only yesterday...I was telling a relative of mine...how I've been reluctant to putonline...some of the videos I've made...that I feel best about. I've found that thedeepest...and most feeling songs I've written...are among those on video...I'm likely to postpone uploading. It is...a protective instinct...I think...at work here...notwanting to expose them to the indifference of would be viewers...who might skip pastthem...not realizing...or caring...how you feel about them. I have quite a few videosthat may fall into the category I've just outlined...that were made quite a while ago...but are not uploaded. I eventually overcome my reluctance...and from time to time...upload one of these. One of the realizations that helps me to expose a piece of my work online...sooner or later..is that...if the song on the video really connects with one viewer out there...that would be a good reason to have uploaded it. Thismorning...I received what appeared to be a heart felt comment...on a song...veryrecently posted online. The response...reminded me of this notion of the worth ofreally connecting with one person out there...and is the kind of encouragement...thatis likely to help me to overcome my hesitation in making available to the world...some of the videos I've made...I feel most strongly about. Hope I remember...whatI've just written here...up ahead.................Quester.

Friday, November 28, 2008

Reflections On A Wet Day

Recently came back to my home...from off of streets that have become uninviting today. It is grey...drizzling enough to get you wet if you spend much time...out there...and there is a dampness in the air...that reminds me of time spent in London...England. Looking at the tv news...I am reminded...however...that so much about life...is relative. There must be a lot of injured and traumatized people...in Mumbai...who would trade this day here...for the day they are living through there...right now. So...it's actually...a day of feeling empathy for the suffering people there...and counting blessings here...that I shouldn't allow a little grey and wetness...to obscure. As for the creatures who perpetrated this suffering far away from where I am today...I do a lot of writing...but words fail me...in describing them...and the depths they have descended to. Maybe one day...this insanity will cease..............Quester.

Thursday, November 27, 2008

Thanks To Thanksgiving Song Viewers

The views for my "Thanksgiving Song" on YouTube...continue to surge...and are now past8,500. Today...is the actual Thanksgiving Day in the U.S.A...[in Canada it's in earlyOctober]. It'll be interesting to see whether this surge goes on...or not...once thisday is over. Whatever happens...I am thankful for all those new people who havediscovered this song...this time around...and wish them a peaceful and fulfillingThanksgiving...........................Quester.

Wednesday, November 26, 2008

Finding Songs For A Long Done Play

About a week ago...I was approached about being involved...in the revival of a playcalled..."Teach Me The Ways Of The Sacred Circle". It was first staged...towards theend of the eighties...by the Spirit Song Theatre Company. I had been asked then...towrite songs to be sung during the play. I did that...and was surprised to be asked toplay the role of the grandfather in the play...[these days I'm a lot better qualified to do that...chronologically...anyway]. This acting role...was a first for me...but Itackled it...and we ended up touring British Columbia with it. Anyway...twenty plusyears had gone by...and I had difficulty remembering...how many songs I'd written forit...and their titles. I knew that for me to be involved in anyway...now...with thisplay...I'd have to find a tape of the songs I wrote for it. I looked high and low fora tape of it...[I have thousands of tapes with mine and other music]. I finallyfound the tape with the "Teach Me Songs". I eagerly played it. It wobbled a bit...then stalled completely. As I often do when I hit a problem I have to solve...I putdown whatever ideas come to me about it in my daily journal...at lunch today.There was quite a list of what I might have to do about it...but the idea that cameto me...that I tried on getting back home...was manually winding the tape forward...past the point where it had stalled...and testing to see...if it would then play.It did...and now...with some wobbles...it looks to have all the songs I wrote forthe play back then. This opens up the door to some kind of involvement with therevival of the play. I don't know what that will be...I'll have to discuss it withothers...but what I do know...is I won't be doing any "acting". Right after Ifinished playing Grandpa Jack in "Teach Me"...I knew that was the only "acting"...I was ever likely to do...and nothing is likely to change my mind about that.Besides...I like creating...on my own...too much...and it looks like...if all goeswell...that is what I'm going to continue to do.....................Quester.

Tuesday, November 25, 2008

Reflections On A Conversation

Today's picture...in some way...reminds me of a conversation I had with someone I'veknown for a while...recently. One of the things we concluded after sharing views...was that learning to live life...on your own...is a great training for living life in general. My friend made the point that...not being able to face your life...on your own two feet...can propel you into seeking a companion...that in your desperation...may cause you to end up in a troubled relationship...i.e. settling for any company...rather than having none at all. So much of what we do in life...we do alone...as the woman in today's picture...going to or from shopping...is doing. For many...those that they will regroup with later...at home...helps them to do the solitary tasks. Today...I wish that ...what is waiting at home...brings those who deliver on their solitary tasks...peace ...hope...and fulfillment...and that those who live solo...find the riches that can come with the solitary state...and the courage to keep on...when the hours get difficult.........................Quester.

Monday, November 24, 2008

Young Lovers...Late November

Today's picture...taken yesterday...reminds me of a song I wrote a long time ago...when I had first hand evidence to draw upon...to help me write it. The song was called..."The Only Lovers Of The World"...about that time when two people are new to love...and travel readily...to the place where it takes them...where the two of them...arethe only two lovers there ever were...or ever will be...where there is no one else inthe world...who could possibly know the feeling they are experiencing. A setting forthis experience...could hardly be better than...English Bay...West Coast of Canada...on a beautiful November evening...well...English Bay...in spring might be even moresuitable...but this is a time in people's lives...that rises above...even the spell of the four seasons...and so...it ever was....................Quester.

Sunday, November 23, 2008

A Walk By English Bay

Returned from English Bay...where today's picture was taken...a little while ago.A sunny day always brings many citizens of Vancouver down to English Bay. Although thisafternoon was cool down there...they came. Took many pictures of the bay on my trip there...and some of flowers that still can be found at this time of year...in certainplaces...on its shores. Met a friend there...I hadn't seen for a long time...and wehad a good wide and deep chat...as we always do when we meet. Walking by English Baythis afternoon...gave me a lift...as it usually does. I am thankful for having thisplace to go to...whenever I need to do so....................Quester.

Saturday, November 22, 2008

A Balanced Approach to Universal Access Online

One of the temptations that come with universal access to online sites...where youupload your videos...or have your say in a Blog...is to completetely slam anyone...orany group you have had a problem with...in the past. There may be times when you have to speak out about something that's unjust...foolish...or injuriously stupid. On thewhole...however...I think it's a good idea...as much as possible...to reach forsome balance in what you say...like you hopefully would in your actual life. A thoughtthat's helped me through times in the past...when verbal or written abuse...came myway...is that...serene people...would never generate such abuse...therefore...theperson who is hurling this at you...is more to be pitied than anything else...for being so troubled. What people who abuse an online site...by using it to hurl abuse at others...may not have realized...is they are likely revealing much more aboutthemselves...than about the person they are insulting. So...the words of the oldsong maker who said..."give your words like treasures...measured every one"...maywell make sense...after all.....................Quester.

Friday, November 21, 2008

Reflections On A Short Grey Day

Today's photo was taken about a week ago. I'm sure that by now all those beautiful golden leaves are on the ground. Today has been very grey and wet...and the dark comesso early. This is one of the things I sometimes miss...if I allow myself to do so...from my childhood days in Guyana. There...there was no wholesale shedding of leaves...and no winter...of course...and the days were not brutally shortened...and lackingin sunlight...the way they often are...in the autumn and winter months here. You couldalso rely on the length of the day...with darkness descending like a guillotine...atabout 6 p.m....and the new day beginning about 5.30 p.m....with no trace of twilightat its ending. Living in the countryside...I remember the unearthly sound...that used to wake me up at around 5.30 in the morning. No it wasn't a grownup in a perky voicesaying..."rise and shine". It was the massed chorus of what we used to call..."baboons" ...turns out they were actually howler monkeys...who together...made this sound that seemed to be coming from deep down in a nether world. If you were an adult visiting this area for the first time...that sound...would scare you witless.Anyway...I do believe in "working with what you've got"...and I know that I'mprivileged to live in this beautiful part of the world...and maybe some morning soon...I'll see my beloved mountains again..................Quester.

Thursday, November 20, 2008

Thanksgiving Song Revisited

Yesterday...my Thanksgiving Song video...on YouTube...benefiting it seems...from Thanksgiving Day in the U.S. coming up shortly...and surging in the number of people watching it...passed 5,000 views. There are many videos online with many more viewsthan that...and many...including some of mine...with two digit viewership...some of which might deserve a better fate. Over many years...I've trained myself not to letnumbers accruing around a piece of my creative work...define it. There are all kindsof reasons why some videos online...get a lot of views...and why some are left alone.The important thing...is to try for a kind of relinquishment...of the piece of yourwork...you have let loose...on the sea of cyberspace. The other thing that youwork on over the years of creating things...is developing your own sense about thequality of a piece of your work...and not giving away your power to others...to defineit for you. Having said that...I am happy...that a "goodly number" of people havefound my Thanksgiving Song online...and can share with me...the spirit of..."All TheTime Thankfulness"...it was written from. For this...I give thanks!......Quester.

Wednesday, November 19, 2008

To Busk Or Not To Busk

In all my years of singing...I've never busked. At the same time...I've respectedpeople who do...for being able to face up to its challenges. What prevented me from doing it...was a deep feeling that an artist who had worked long and hard at what he or she did...should not have to perform...in a situation where there was so much traffic around...accompanied by so much indifference. Having coins tossed at you...for me...was the final indignity I could not accept. In my long musical life...it was only for a short while...at the start of it...that I sang old folk songs...or songs written by others. Once I started writing the songs that I sang...there was no chance that I was going to expose these expressions that came from deep inside me...to the indifference that buskers suffer through...I previously mentioned. Perhaps that is why...most of the songs you hear buskers sing are cover songs...that gives them some cover from exposing their deepest selves. I am sure that buskers...if asked...willgive you their own strong reasons for doing what they do. I never have...and neverwill busk...but today...I salute the bravery of those who do. It's...once again...most likely...just a case of...different strokes for different folks.............Quester.

Tuesday, November 18, 2008

Today's Cherry Blossoms

Good thing I didn't do my blog entry first thing this morning...as I often do. Walkingon a sunny...and fairly warm afternoon...across my neighbourhood...was ideal for taking pictures. I walked passed this yard...and did a double take...did my eyes see what I thought I just saw?. On taking a few steps back...to look again...I verified that they hadn't been playing tricks on me. Yes...they were looking at cherry blossoms in November!. I took today's picture...and walking on...saw at least one more such tree...blossoming. When I first came to live on the West Coast...one of my traditions over a few years...was to go to a certain part of Stanley Park...on New Year's Day...to see the cherry blossoms there...in bloom. I've seen them come out as early as November before. Some people say it's because they are being fooled by the weather. I myself...have a hunch that they know exactly what they're doing...deciding that the usual greyness of November...is a good time to bring a ray of hope...to those who live here...reminding us all...that spring is not far away......................Quester.

Monday, November 17, 2008

Book Of Love

[Words from my song: "Book Of Love"-Copyright-SOCAN-Video on YouTube]."While writing in the book of love...a tear may fall...a sigh may come...A dancer in the ancient dance...must pay the piper when he's done...You're lucky to dance even once...and share in the sweet mystery...A man and a woman as one...a jewel you keep when it's gone..."..........................Quester.

Sunday, November 16, 2008

November Daisies

Just completed a neighbourhood walk. To compensate for the greyness overhead...and thegloom all around me...I kept my eye out for persistent flowers. They were not hard tofind...one of the things I like about living on the West Coast. The first ones I spotted...were actually right at my feet...daisies...one of the lowest lying flowers...but one that can lift you...if you're open to it. I'm sure they're likely to bestill around...through December...not to mention the rest of the winter...but I couldn't wait for a few more weeks to post an entry called..."December Daisies"...despite the alliterative appeal of that title for an entry...so I settledfor..."November Daisies"...which...I think...still has a certain charm about it. MaybeI'm simply tapping into here...the charm of daisies...anytime of the year...but specially appreciated...when the cool...and the gloom...comes................Quester.

Saturday, November 15, 2008

November Island

[Words from my song "November Island"-Copyright-SOCAN-video on YouTube]."November island fields I knoware misty in the rain...The growing time is over'til April comes again...The snow will soon be driftingby the bay I know so well...and a feeling stirs inside of memy lips can never tell...It's my island grey...green...or white with snow...It will stay with mewherever I may go..."............Quester.

Friday, November 14, 2008

Autumn Song Revisited

[Words from my song: "Autumn Song"-Copyright-SOCAN-video on YouTube]."Autumn never smiles...at those who face the wind...There are no favourstaken...given...this time...This time is for the wind...This time is for the stone...This time is for the onewho can catch fire...And what will become of youwhen the swimmerscome back to shore?...You can't put off anymore...your life".......................,,,,,..........Quester.

Thursday, November 13, 2008

New Making The Circle Grow Tools

These days...people send messages to me...from far flung places...like Slovenia...the U.S. Virgin Islands...Japan...etc. These are triggered by my videos on YouTube...and my website. Up to 2002...before I owned my first computer...and before YouTube...this brand of human contact...just didn't happen. Sometimes...I hear now...frommembers of the huge clan I belong to...who...like me...were exported to many differentplaces. Sometimes...among these ones...there are people of my generation...sometimes...their children...or even grandchildren. Sometimes...I hear from people...who I crossed paths with over many years of performing in scattered places. Sometimes...from people who have crossed paths with my music on one or more of my albums. The messages generated from my videos on YouTube...are often from people who have never heard my music before...but are responding to videos of songs of mine...they are hearing for the first time. Years ago...I wrote a song called..."Making the Circle Grow"...which is one of my videos on YouTube. When I wrote it...I never dreamt...that in years to come...I'd be given the tools...to help make aconnection with a widening circle of peaceful people...in far away places. For thesemagical tools...I am truly thankful......................Quester.

Wednesday, November 12, 2008

A Subtle Song Title

The title for a song you write is not always obvious to you. Sometimes it takes a while for it to become clear what it is a song should be called. Years ago...I wrote this love song...that...because it drew on images of war...from start to finish...at first I thought I would call..."The War Of Love". Didn't take long for me to realize...that I would have to do better than that...being someone who has tended to prefer the subtle over the crude...usually...in my artist's work. The words of the song had been just written...when I decided to search through them for a better song title. I went through the first verse... and then the chorus..."And love is the song when the battle is done ...the dance when the war is all over...And love is a warrior his face to the sun...And love is a barefoot soldier". I don't think I have to explain...to anyone who reads this...why..."Barefoot Soldier"...is a title that works so much better than..."The War Of Love"...the poet in everyone...knows that it is........Quester.

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

Sunnier Days Ahead

My window is pock marked with droplets...the dark...bare branches of the tree in frontof it...dance a slow sad dance...the red roofed church about 4 or 500 yards away ismistily visible...beyond that...the inlet and my mountains...have been swallowed bygrey Remembrance Day clouds. It's hard to remember...on a day such as this...that inmy time...I've watched this same territory outside my window...bathed in spring or autumn sunlight. Yes...the weather does play tricks with you...sometimes making you believe what your eyes see...and pushing you to forget...that there have been better times...and more...are still possible. So...here's to finding somethingengaging to do...and remembering...there are indeed...sunnier days ahead.......Quester.

Monday, November 10, 2008

Seeing And Hearing Sharper

One of the first habits someone wishing to unleash his or her creative potential...hasto develop...is seeing and hearing like never before. Since I've acquired my digitalcameras...although I was trying to see sharply before that...I've found that it hasnudged me to seeing pictures everywhere...and actually taking some of them. When itcomes to listening better...I feel that in conversation with others...I've consciouslyretrained myself to listen a bit better than I once did...not only for creative reasons ...but also...in order to develop better communication with my fellow human beings...having realized some years ago...that left unbridled...like many other people...I might end up yapping on and on. To this day...I still haven't mastered the art of eavesdropping...in public places...which some artists cultivate...the better to acquire grist for their creative mill. Dining out in the past with a dear friend of mine...who was a writer...I couldn't help but observe her...craning her beautiful neck...to pick up a piece of conversation...from a few tables away. I used to kid her about it...but I understood why she was doing it. Anyway...seeing and hearing sharper...are two great steps...on the creative arist's journey.................Quester.

Sunday, November 09, 2008

People Of The Salmon

[Words from my song "People Of The Salmon"-Copyright-SOCAN]."When in cloudsthe mountain tops are gone...and sky and landbecome as one...I catch a glimpseof how you came to be...shaped by mountain...sky...and sea...People Of The SalmonI can hear you...through the ocean mistI hear your song...I can hear your drum beatechoing...calling...I can hear your songso deep and strong..."............Quester.

Saturday, November 08, 2008

One More West Coast Surprise

Just finished a walk...on this overcast but warm afternoon. Hadn't taken my camera outmuch recently...because of rain...but I had it with me on this rainless afternoon. Oneof the first things that caught my eye...was this tree in someone's yard...with it'sleaves gone...not really surprising at this time of year. What was the surprise was...that it was laden with golden fruit. At the risk of infringing on someone's propertyline...I moved closer to the hanging fruit...the better to take pictures of them. Itook many pictures...one of which...is today's picture. I hope no one asks me...whatkind of fruit is that?. My guess is that it might be...persimmon...but I am no experton this subject. What was important to me...was that I hadn't really expected to havemuch to take pictures of...it being November...so for me it was a pleasant surprise torun into this piece of bounty. I should know better by now...living in this part ofthe world...but for me it was...one more West Coast surprise.............Quester.

Friday, November 07, 2008

We Know The Day Is Coming

I have made 29 albums of my songs during my long musical life. On the very first album...released in Britain...eons ago...there was a song called..."We know the day iscoming". It came out of my empathy with the struggle for civil rights...in the UnitedStates...with lines like..."your dogs can bite our bodies but we don't mind...they'llnever touch our souls...so you will find". So...I understand the tears shed by peoplelike Jesse Jackson and so many others...on the evening of November 4th. The long andwinding road so many had been on...had finally produced a very palpable result...cheered by people all across the world. Before the main work of the new day had begun...it had produced visible evidence...of a change...people could believe in.........................Quester.

Thursday, November 06, 2008

A Night Of Overcoming And Blessing

In all my years of performing out in the world...I have seldom been late for anengagement...muchless missed one. I can't even remember the last time I missed one.That's why last evening...heading to an engagement...celebrating British Columbia's 150th birthday...it was deeply frustrating for me...to leave home two hours early...trusting I would find a taxi out on the streets...in short order. I waited in threedifferent locations...eyes peeled...but it was as if all the taxis of my city had decided to disappear at the same time. I was beginning to feel that I would miss myfirst engagement in many years...when...in answer to my prayers...one finally found me. On the long ride to the hall where the event was being held...I worked on calmingmyself...because one of the reasons I have been an early bird in the past...gettingto my engagements...is that I know how rushing to get there...can throw me offmy centre...and affect my performance...negatively. By the time I hit the stage Iwas composed...and able to deliver my words and songs...without showing...theharrowing I had just gone through. The 550 people present responded well...and whenit was over...I felt I had been specially blessed this night...by forces...out ofa higher region. I am thankful for the turn around that happened last night...................Quester.

Wednesday, November 05, 2008

Better Days...Tomorrow

The big day...November 4th...has come and gone. Yesterday and night I spent too muchtime glued to the television...and later today I am scheduled to sing somewhere...arecipe for a short posting. Suffice it to say...that today I feel hopeful about myworld...feeling it can't help but benefit...from having intelligent leadership in acentral place...responding to what looks like a hunger for change that comes frombeing in touch with what's going on in the world...rather than being imprisoned byold notions about exercising power. I wish the new leadership...south of the border...well...as we all look to better days...tomorrow.................Quester.

Tuesday, November 04, 2008

New Feeling In The Air

[Words from my song: "New Feeling In The Air".Copyright-SOCAN]"There's a new feeling in the air...Hey!...sleepy brother...And it's sayinga new time is here...Hey!...sleepy sister...A time to becomea real earth manand colour yournights and days...A time to becomea new womanfree in a thousand ways..."..................Quester.

Monday, November 03, 2008

Splinters Of The Tree

[Words from song "Splinters Of The Tree"-Copyright-SOCAN-Video on YouTube]."Machu Pichu silent now...ever reaching up to the sun...The Inca towers still standing tallthough the dons of Spainare now long gone...Splinters of the Tree...Splinters of the Tree...Bronze men blow their sikku notescross the high sierraas they rhyme...Women in their rainbow robesdance the dance they didthrough Inca Time...wey-ya-hey...wey-ya-hey..."..................Quester.

Sunday, November 02, 2008

November's Here

Have just finished towelling off...and changing my soggy clothes...with a thunder clapfor emphasis...as I approached my computer to make this entry...underlining what it is I was going to write about. Earlier I had lunch at a family restaurant I go to in my neighbourhood. At one point...my table in the restaurant was bathed in elusive sunlight...soon gone...of course. After lunch...I headed out for a neighbourhood walk. When I was a distance away from home...suitable for soaking...if the rains came...they did. I could feel the drops beating out an intricate rhythm...on the top of my head through my cloth cap. Soon...I found myself...blowing upwards to dislodge drops forming at the tip of my cap...choosing the time of their deaparture rather than having them do so. Soon...I could feel my jacket being soaked...then the front of my panths. I wondered if the wet would get to the camera I had long ago given shelter in my panths pocket. Soon my running shoes were wet. I appreciated the warmth of my home...to come...more than I usually do. These Canadian rain drops...are never like the "warm as soup" ones...I experienced in my childhood in Guyana. Finally...I sloshed into the front door of my building...with the raindrops bouncing off the asphalt behind me...beating out a rhythm...to the mocking chant..."November's here!...November's here!"..............Quester.

Saturday, November 01, 2008

One Gone...One To Go

Yesterday...through the afternoon...and deep into the night...the sound of fireworksgoing off...disturbed the peace...that might otherwise have prevailed. I hope thatdespite the commerce fest that Halloween has become...that some experienced somejoyful time...sharing the delight of young members of their families...that can happen..."sugar highs" notwithstanding. From today...probably...the pounding on the air waves and television screens...and elsewhere...will likely start in earnest...to fuel the lemming drive that Christmas has become. Again...it'shard for me to be blissfully unaware of this aspect of the Peace and Goodwill to Alltime. My hope is that...regardless...there will be some good friend and family time happening...leading up to...and on...the big day. In the meantime...I look forward toJanuary...and the sight of the first flowers of a new season...flowers have a wayof returning...regardless of whether the shops approve...or not..........Quester.